I knew you would be around to remind me Don hahaha, I had some very positive comments about the car which I really appreciated, the little rough around the edges look is growing on me !!! One thing I have found is the street mufflers need to be changed to 3", the 2.5" are really strangling the motor with the header caps on, I have ordered new mufflers etc etc and will get it done as soon as.
I've been looking at the Radir cheater slicks on the coupe as the are just way too hard for serious strip use, I decided to keep them just for road use and get some better slicks for the track action. They come with just a couple of cheater grooves which ain't gonna cut the mustard on UK roads so I decided to cut some more into them with my tyre grooving tool. This is how they looked to start with I added another groove in the centre and some radial grooves on the outsides, heres a short video of how it was done And heres how they look now .
Such a nice video! When are you gonna post a video of it lifting the front wheels and carrying them a long stretch. :-D
The Bigbossman called in saturday to do a bit more lettering on the Willys, we were ready for him though, we armed ourselves with danish pastrys He originally was only going to add the gas class prefix on the roof but his brushes just kept going !!! Heres a few pics and video of the master at work Ian gives a few tips in the videos, worth warching. Apparently Asda cans make the best mixing pots .
Lettering looks good, Steve. You are right about these old timey slicks not hooking worth a damn. When I ran my 27 at the BP drags I put on the 8 inch Firestone slicks off of my rpu because I felt they would hook better than the street tires I run. They didn't. First gear was useless and the car didn't begin to hook until half way through second gear. My 60 foot times were horrible, but I was afraid to put on some real slicks because I didn't have a blowproof bellhousing and things might start breaking. Don
Well a Hotrod Drags update, done a bit of unofficial testing on the main road at the end of our road on thursday evening and the car felt really strong and launching nice & straight so set off for the Hotrod Drags full of confidence Saturday came round quick and after my pit crew of Gary "just one more" Layton & Andy "fred" hone dragged thereselves from there slumber after another night in the bar and not forgetting Brian "Dad" Lucas, and got down to the pits we checked a few things and laid out a test plan, I was full of confidence but Gary calmed me down and suggested we take it easy with a soft launch and just peddle the car down the strip, I agreed. Got to the line and everything seemed to be looking spot on so staged the car and then we was off 1st gear was great, next 2nd gear even better but as I slipped into 3rd the transmission locked up and therefore the rear wheels locked up a bit smartly too the car slewed slightly sideways and I slipped it back into 2nd which unlocked everything, slight brown trouser moment Got back to the pits and jacked it up on stands and tried it through the gears again and sure enough when it went into 3rd the trans locked again, Fred had a quick look but couldn't do much and Mike Couch came over and had a look too and general concensous is its a valve body problem so it needs to be got out and inspected. So that was our first weekend in the circus suitably curtailed, We will sort it out and hopefully do a RWYB at North Weald strip at the end of the month. Heres a few pics from the startline .
Sorry to hear about the transmission problem Steve. Did you get the brown stains cleaned off the seat?
You'll appreciate this video Steve. In the last race of these 4, my friend Robbie breaks an axle at launch on his steel Willys coupe:
Sorry to hear about the box Steve. But I bet you were buzzing being out for the 1st time. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Steve - been watching your fine work for some time now but have to ask a question re Roarin' Rat. This car first appeared in Custom Car magazine - early 70's I think and it was this that started my interest in drag racing and hot rods. I thought it was broken up and parted out. Do you know if this is the original car rebuilt ??
Yes its the original car, updated as far as I can see, its running low 10's I believe, From what I remember from the original car I think its had a lot of work done to bring it up to spec.
Steve Even if you dont have the bugs worked out yet...it looks pretty mean!!! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Thanks dude, appreciated, we will get there in the end, never had a car give me so many problems though.
Man what a car here Steve! Question on your brakes & Around page 24, you go over the front brakes. Maybe the question is more about the wheels and how they are going to like the stress of the rotors into the hub. I've contemplated something similar but the hole pattern into the soft mag hub makes me Leary especially the edge distance. You are obviously very talented so I'm going to assume you've given this much thought. There's no other way to get brakes onto those wheels but I can't see the braking forces transferred into that hub and the wheels being happy about it. What am I missing or overthinking about this? There's a certain amount of force into that hub that's needed to stop the car- call that "X" and then there's a certain amount of force that rip the bolt holes out of the hub - call that "Y". The important question is what's the amount between X and Y. With up graded calipers and pads and better stopping the forces on the hub must have also increased. Reason I'm asking is that I'd like to do the same but it scares me when I compare a 5x4.5 bolt circle with 1/2" studs in a 3/8" thick hub with plenty of edge distance to what's necessary with these wheels.
The Jalopy Journal
